A superb double from Juve skipper Alessandro del Piero eventually killed off United’s stubborn resistance to leave the Magpies with no points from their opening three games in the competition.

Dutch referee Rene Temmink later went into the United dressing room to admit that he had made an error in ruling out what would have been an equaliser by Alan Shearer for offside, but in the end even that would not have been enough.

However Robson was still able to take many positives from a spirited display.

“Obviously I can’t complain about my players because we extracted in terms of effort everything they could give us,” he said.

“We find ourselves now with no points. We might have had a point tonight and we could have had three against Feyenoord, but that’s the cruel game it is sometimes.

“We’ve just got to be tough about it and be resilient and just soldier on, look for the next match, don’t complain about it.

“It hasn’t gone quite our way, but we haven’t been outplayed, we haven’t been outclassed.”

Robson’s side now have a three-week break before they entertain the Italian champions back at St James’ Park.

They will have to make do without defender Nikos Dabizas in that game after he picked up his third booking in the competition at the Stadio delle Alpi.

Yet they know now that their hopes of reaching the second phase are all but at an end and, after the 0-0 draw between Feyenoord and Dynamo Kyiv in Rotterdam, the UEFA Cup place third spot in the group would earn is also a tall order.

But Robson will ensure that the lessons of tough baptism at the highest level will be learned.

“We’ve got to learn that when we go out, we’re not inferior to our opposition,” he said. “That’s the first thing we’ve got to learn.

“We tried to convey that to the players, telling them, ’don’t think that you’re inferior to a side that’s beaten Kyiv 5-0 and won the Italian championship last year’.”

Newcastle were well in the game despite having to defend stubbornly until, with 66 minutes gone, Del Piero made the decisive move by smashing home a free-kick from the edge of the penalty area.

“As often happens in a big game like this, a free-kick, a set play, changes the game, Del Piero just turned Dabizas and dived a little bit and I said to my coach after that incident, if we get out of this Del Piero taking a free-kick just on the edge of the box, it will be a miracle. And of course we didn’t get the miracle because it was a good chance for him to score.”

Juventus boss Marcello Lippi admitted he was not surprised by Newcastle’s committed display and was grateful for the individual brilliance of match-winner Del Piero.

“The result for Newcastle actually does not tell the truth,” he said. “I saw Newcastle play very well against Feyenoord at home when they didn’t deserve to lose.

“They have a hard-working forward in Alan Shearer who touches a lot of balls both for himself and his other team-mates. They have very good players from a tactical point of view like (Laurent) Robert, (Nolberto) Solano and (Kieron) Dyer.

“I like Newcastle very much. To beat Newcastle, we needed two wonderful goals from Del Piero.”